Jdgon writes:

"America: Defenders or Destroyers of Democracy?

The US Government has demonstrated its blatant disregard and disrespect for a democratically elected Caribbean leader and a poorer and smaller third world country (Haiti) consistently over the past eight years.

"Aristide Back in Caribbean Heat:

Before Arriving in Jamaica, Haitian Details 'Coup' by U.S."

Peter Eisner, Washington Post

Tuesday, March 16, 2004; Page A01

KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 15 -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepped back into the white glare of a Caribbean afternoon Monday, wearing a broad smile and the same dark suit he had on two weeks ago when he was banished from the presidency of Haiti and deposited into exile half a world away.

"Spain's Socialist Party Defeats Popular Party:

Elections Come 72 Hours After Worst Terrorist Attacks in Country's History"

Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post

MADRID, March 14 -- Casting their ballots against the bloody backdrop of
the worst terrorist attacks in this country's history, Spaniards voted
Sunday to oust the ruling Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar, blaming his staunch backing of the American war in Iraq for
the bombings that left 200 people dead.

In a stunning political upset, voters chose to give power to the
opposition Socialist Party, whose leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
has promised to immediately withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq,
orient Spain's foreign policy away from the United States and restore good
relations with anti-war European allies, France and Germany.

Anonymous Comrade writes:

"Spanish police officer kills member of “Gurasoak” association in Iruñea
Iruñea-born Angel Berroeta was killed in his bakery; the police officer was arrested, as was his son

Asier Azpilikueta – IRUÑEA (Pamplona)

61-year-old Angel Berroeta-Legaz from Iruñea was killed at midday yesterday by a member of the Spanish Police in the bakery belonging to the former located in the Donibane (San Juan) quarter of Iruñea. The police officer was off duty and stabbed and shot Berroeta several times after a heated argument. It was alleged to have been a political argument (Berroeta was a member of the Gurasoa association). The police officer who fired the shots was arrested and so was his son, who was thought to have taken part in the argument.

"Hindu Warrior Back in His 'Chariot'"

Praful Bidwai

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads India's ruling coalition, has launched a new stratagem in its high-pitched election campaign to rake up its trademark issue of religious and ethnic identities.

Starting Mar. 10, Lal Krishna Advani, the part's best-known hawkish leader and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's deputy, will begin a month-long tour covering 12,000 kilometers and criss-crossing through more than a fifth of India's 545 parliamentary constituencies.

Oread Daily writes

CAUSE FOR OUTRAGE

I guess it should come as no surprise that missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada don’t get much media play.

Yesterday a group representing aboriginal women in Manitoba rallied in front of the provincial legislature to protest that very fact. The Mother of Red Nations Women's Council marked International Women's Day by calling for more attention to aboriginal women who disappear. The Mother of Red Nations Council says missing white women receive more media attention than missing aboriginal women. The group says all missing women should be the focus of the kind of public concern given to Dru Sjodin, a Caucasian university student who disappeared in Grand Forks, North Dakota last November. "There was front-page press day after day," says council spokeswoman Leslie Spillett. "There's organized search parties and a whole community effort got behind to find where she is and to bring people to justice that may have violated her, and we think that's an appropriate response for the community."

The mother and aunt of Sunny Wood, a 16-year-old aboriginal girl who went missing Feb. 20, joined the group. "We just want to know what's happened to her," says Wood's aunt, Irene Okemow. "It's very frightening right now because we don't know what's happened to her and its very scary. She's got lots of family members back home that are very concerned. " The missing 5-foot-7, 220-pound girl has tattoos on her fingers and was wearing an Exco grey sweater and black boots.

Spillett said the lack of public attention to Wood's disappearance is an example of how native women aren't treated like other women in the province. "There are children - 16- and 17-year-old women - that are disappearing off the streets of Winnipeg frequently," said Spillett. "Where's the search parties? Where's the outrage?" she said. "The message to us is ... that we don't count, that we don't matter -- that our lives don't have the same value as others…The Mother of Red Nations is asking (the province) to work with us to develop an appropriate response to the missing and murdered women," she said. "We demand some action." Spillett estimated that 500 aboriginal women across the country have vanished over the last decade.

"If 500 white women went missing from Toronto and Montreal or wherever, I think there'd be absolute panic and outrage," Saskatoon journalist Warren Goulding, author of “Just Another Indian: A Serial Killer and Canada’s Indifference,” said. ``It just hasn't happened." Sources: CBC, Indianz, Winnipeg Sun, Toronto Star

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"US-Haiti"

Noam Chomsky, March 09, 2004

Those who have any concern for Haiti will naturally want to understand how its most recent tragedy has been unfolding. And for those who have had the privilege of any contact with the people of this tortured land, it is not just natural but inescapable. Nevertheless, we make a serious error if we focus too narrowly on the events of the recent past, or even on Haiti alone. The crucial issue for us is what we should be doing about what is taking place. That would be true even if our options and our responsibility were limited; far more so when they are immense and decisive, as in the case of Haiti. And even more so because the course of the terrible story was predictable years ago -- if we failed to act to prevent it. And fail we did. The lessons are clear, and so important that they would be the topic of daily front-page articles in a free press.

A Year of Silence Since Rachel Corrie Died

Elizabeth Corrie, International Herald Tribune, Thursday, March 4, 2004

Atlanta, Georgia -- Only a year ago, the month of March would have held the same positive associations for me as it has for many -- the beginning of the end of winter, the promise of springtime and even summer. This year, and for every year for the rest of my life, the approach of March will mean something else entirely -- the anniversary of the brutal death of my cousin, Rachel Corrie.

Longtime New York City anarchist organizer, painter and publisher Sidney Solomon died in Queens on Monday, March 1, 2004, following a lengthy illness. He was born on December 8, 1911 in the town of Pogost, Russia. With his late wife, Clara, and others, Solomon was a co-founder of the Atlantic Anarchist Circle. A memorial service is being held today at 11:15 AM at the Parkside Chapel, 65th and Queens Boulevard.

"The Deal: Pakistan Keeps its Nukes and Bush Gets Osama"

 Seymour M. Hersh

On February 4th, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is revered in Pakistan as the father of the country's nuclear bomb, appeared on a state-run television network in Islamabad and confessed that he had been solely responsible for operating an international black market in nuclear-weapons materials. His confession was accepted by a stony-faced Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's President, who is a former Army general, and who dressed for the occasion in commando fatigues. The next day, on television again, Musharraf, who claimed to be shocked by Khan's misdeeds, nonetheless pardoned him, citing his service to Pakistan (he called Khan "my hero"). Musharraf told the Times that he had received a specific accounting of Khan's activities in Iran, North Korea, and Malaysia from the United States only last October. "If they knew earlier, they should have told us," he said. "Maybe a lot of things would not have happened."